Skepchick Quickies 7.12

Why psychics need to stop pretending they can solve crimes – “When a child initially disappears there is pandemonium. The news presents a grief-stricken family in front of a house over-run by police while neighbors look on. But after the camera crews leave and the dust settles, there is a moment of quiet. That’s when the psychics arrive.” Thanks to all the readers who sent this in.

Why I quit my job – From Ryan, “A Canadian reporter getting fed up, quitting, and using the new freedom to discuss issues in Canada, including the governmental disdain for science and critical thinking.”

8 Comments

The comments following the article on psychics are so full of rationality and empathy for the victims that reading them is a pleasant experience. Who the heck are those people, what have they done with teh interwebs?

As a Canadian, the Why I quit my Job article interested me, so I read it. I had absolutely no idea that there was also a Canadian side to the war on Science. I had always thought that we were rational about things like that.

But I guess that changed with a Conservative majority government. We had a Conservative minority government up until recently, and so they had been kept in check by the opposition, for the most part.

If you would like some more insight into the rather dreadful state of science in Canada, Steve Thoms et al blog Skeptic North (http://www.skepticnorth.com/) presents some reasonably good information and discussion. You will also find a small handful of amazingly woo-filled Canadian commentors.

Hey man, Calgary may have cursed the country with Harper, but we just elected Naheed Nenshi for ourselves. Yup, our Mayor is a practicing Ismaili Muslim and, pretty much everyone is sure he’s gay too, but he’s not openly gay, and you know what’s great? No one cares. No one in the whole city actually cares whether he’s gay. It’s fantastic.